Thoughts

Pain

All of us live with pain. Sometimes, that pain comes in small little packages that we can easily carry around with us. Sometimes, that pain is an enormous weight that can cripple us.

The small little packages of pain are the physical misfortunes that we encounter in our lives.

The enormous weight is the emotional pain that others inflict upon us throughout the course of our lives.

-- RM

Hitting Burnout

March 3, 2013

Okay, this is going to be one of those posts that I probably shouldn’t even write, but those of you who know me know that thinking things through is not really my strong suit. (In elementary school, one of my earliest memories was taking a paper fastener, pulling the prongs about, and sticking it into an electrical socket. That was my first experience with the wonders of modern electricity.)

Having said that, here’s the thing – during the Academy Awards, someone posted an offensive tweet from The Onion that used a horrible word in conjunction with talented child actress Quvenzhane Wallis. In the aftermath of that tweet, it seemed as if the entire world went on a rampage against The Onion.

Rightly so, by the way.

However, since then, it has taken on a life of its own. Somehow, that tweet that one stupid moron posted is being linked to centuries of slavery and the sexualization of African-American girls and a host of other social ills, including the Violence Against Women Act.

I’m banging my head against the wall

Why?

First of all – because the person who wrote that hasn’t stepped forward. Why does that bother me? Simple – I want to know if it was some low-level schmuck or someone who is supposed to know better. If it’s someone who is supposed to know better, I want to know just what in the hell that person was thinking. So far, I’ve heard rumors that it was a woman who wrote it to one of the Hispanic employees of The Onion to Rochelle Klaskin, the attorney for The Onion.

Secondly, it’s keeping that word alive and well and thriving out there. I’ve seen that word more times in recent days than I have in my entire life. There are women out there for whom that words causes physical and emotional distress, and the more that it’s being thrown out there, the more I’m getting pissed off about it.

Yeah, I know – I’m a guy and that means that I don’t get to have an opinion on the matter. Tough. I’ve always believed in speaking what’s on my mind and there’s no point in my changing my pattern.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s astonishing how much freaking power we can give one lone moron over what becomes important in our lives.